I don't really have time to contribute anything meaningful before work, but I did want to comment that I like the general concept of this thread. In my opinion, the devs have (and will always) struggle to balance AST because of how they made it perform similarly to WHM and SCH in a vacuum. Well, I think the current "DPS check" meta of the raiding scene isn't helping either, but ultimately it feels to me like there was barely any attempt to be creative with the Astrologian job at all, minus a few select abilities, and that lack of creativity makes them VERY limited in the adjustments that they can make to the job going forward. At this point I'd love NOTHING more than a complete rework and overhaul of the job, but I just know it's not going to be done. :/ It really saddens me, because I loved the original concept the devs had put forward about AST, which was that it would be a more technical job to play healing-wise but that the buff system would be worth it. Imagine my disappointment when the skill list was revealed and the bulk of them were just Cure(Physick)/Cure II/Medica/Regen(Adlo)/Medica II(Succor)/Lustrate copies. The card concept was great, except the relatively punitive CDs on Draw and Draw-related functions is so long that most groups already play as though the card buffs in your arsenal don't exist.

I love the job, but I would have loved it more despite it's rocky start had it been it's own unique healer with it's own different healing method from the start.

tl;dr I love the idea of of brainstorming new mechanics and healing methods for AST but it also makes me depressed at how uncreative the actual job is by comparison.